Clive O’Connell, The Age, 17 March 2014
Young Melbourne tenor Brenton Spiteri is a graduate of the University of Melbourne, from which he holds a Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Music Performance with Honours. He was the winner of the 2012 Herald Sun Aria and has also been a finalist and prizewinner in the Sydney McDonald’s Aria, the Australian Singing Competition, Mietta Song Competition, and the National Liederfest.
He was recently a soloist in Victorian Opera’s 2013 Gala Concert, and has also performed the roles of Jaquino, Fidelio (Melbourne Opera); Harlekin, Der Kaiser von Atlantis (IOpera); Bevan, Contact – A Netball Musical Drama (Melbourne International Comedy Festival); Aeneas, Dido and Aeneas; Magician, Snow Queen (Victorian Opera), Herr. Vogelsang, Der Schauspieldirektor (Opera DownUnder); King Ajax II, La Belle Hélène (Melbourne Lyric Opera); Jack, Into the Woods (Melbourne University). He has also sung in the Opera Australia and Victorian Opera choruses on numerous occasions.
Concert repertoire includes the complete Songs of Travel (Vaughan Williams), and Britten’s Songs of the Chinese and English Folksong Settings as well as the tenor solos in The Seasons (Haydn), Weinachtsoratorium (Bach), Carmina Burana (Orff), Mass in C and Choral Fantasia (Beethoven), Mass in D (Dvořák), Mass no. 2 in G (Schubert) and the Great Mass in C Minor (Mozart), among others. He performs frequently at the Melbourne Recital Centre and has been a regular guest for ensembles including Melbourne Art Song Collective, Continuo Collective, Consort of Melbourne and the Heidelberg Chorale. In June 2014 he once again sings the tenor role in Orff’s Carmina Burana at the Melbourne Recital Centre, Elizabeth Murdoch Hall.
Whilst studying, Brenton Spiteri was the recipient of a number of scholarships offered for excellence in vocal studies, including the Harold Fisher Memorial Scholarship and the Murray Ormond Vagg Scholarship. He has continued his training since 2012 with the generous support of the Dame Nellie Melba Opera Trust.
Harpsichordist, organist and pianist, Donald Nicolson (accompanies Brenton Spiteri) is quickly establishing himself as an important part of the young Antipodean Early Music movement. Donald undertook postgraduate studies at the Royal Conservatorium in the Hague the Netherlands studying under Ton Koopman and Tini Mathot, focussing especially on the interpretation of the 16th Century English Virginal music and the keyboard music of 17th Century France. In Europe, Donald was a member of many ensembles, with varied concert programmes taking him through Holland, Belgium, France, Germany and Poland.Since returning to New Zealand in 2007, Donald's activities continue to expand, with special regard both to early music performance practice, on harpsichord and organ, and also contemporary repertoire as pianist and harpsichordist. Now based in Melbourne, Donald continues to work on both sides of the Tasman as keyboardist for the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Associate Keyboard Principal of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, and appeared as guest artist on harpsichord with the Vector Wellington Orchestra in November 2010. He has appeared on numerous recordings with the NZSO and the forthcoming year will see further activity in the recording studio.He has also made frequent visits as harpsichordist to Chile and Taiwan.
